


Embers of Malice

by 8at5am_Wh0_L4ugh5



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-17
Updated: 2021-03-03
Packaged: 2021-03-15 19:48:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 7,608
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28818786
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/8at5am_Wh0_L4ugh5/pseuds/8at5am_Wh0_L4ugh5
Summary: Tale of Azula after the sequel comics conclude. Slight Au where every character is aged up a bit so she is 20 for this story. Will both make references to the original material and create new stuff.
Relationships: Azula (Avatar)/Original Female Character(s)
Kudos: 20





	1. Dying Flame

It is widely known that there are two distinct styles of firebending, that each come from a different source. The style that was thought to be the only one for the last hundred years was rage flame style, merging your anger with your chi to produce flame. It was effective yet limited by its complete reliance on an emotion which could change. It was seen as the easy way to firebend, quick to master but lacking in potential. Or so everyone thought. 

Azula had known she was special since the day she was born. She had been constantly reminded of this by her father, her teachers, her friends, by everyone really. She had proved herself worthy of their adoration at every turn. Becoming a firebending master at the age of seventeen, conquering Ba Sing Se with just her two friends, killing the avatar, becoming the youngest firelord. She had done all this not to prove anything but because she was just that good. However it had all meant nothing in the end. 

She had lost her crown, her respect and her sanity in one day and to Zuzu of all people. She was eventually able to get her sanity back so there was that at least. Then it had been right back to scheming, this time to corrupt Zuzu. While the endeavor had been somewhat successful, it had not been worth the effort. Now instead of tracking down royal bounties like her family or the avatar she was the face on the poster. 

That was why she was sitting in a cave on a volcanic island on the outskirts of fire nation territory. She had split up from the other asylum girls once the bounties had been issued. From what little she had heard it sounded like most of the other ones had been caught, the matter deemed cleaned up and everyone was moving on with their lives. Even she had been put to the side, not worth any actual effort aside from some posters. She hated being pushed to the side. 

First it had been her mother who had pushed her aside for Zuko, that had been the start. Then on the big day, her father had pushed her aside as well not wanting anything to distract from his ego fueled genocide, which had been HER IDEA IN THE FIRST PLACE. And now it was Zuzu deciding she wasn't important enough to hunt. Well she would show them all, and this time there would be no chance of getting pushed to the side. 

However before she could get onto all her grand scheming, she should probably figure out who this cave belonged to. While she was on the run, she had planned to take shelter in the outskirts of the earth kingdom. However she had been forced to hunker down in this cave when a storm had made balloon travel impossible. She had quickly found a disguised hole in the back that had led to a second smaller cave that was equipped with amenities. There was a cot, firepit, rations, and even a moss covered bathroom area, someone had set this up to be used as she was using it and she wanted to know who.

Lai-Ti was very interested in who was currently occupying her cave. She had created several of these safehouses across the world during the war, yet this was the first time someone else had found one. She readied her blades, knowing whoever was in there probably wouldn't be friendly, people usually were not to light killers. She expected a fire nation patrol or possibly some bounty hunter looking for a payday.

“Well, here goes everything” she whispered under her breath and quietly slipped into the cave, only to be stopped dead in her tracks by the most beautiful woman she had ever seen. 

Every since Sozin came to power he had placed a ban on her kind of people, gay people. She had been conscripted at the age of ten due to her prodigal skill with a bow. She had moved up quickly because she was a non bender who seemed useful beyond being fodder, so not much competition. She had been inducted into the Yuyan archers at sixteen and received many who were lovers, except she had not felt anything in return for them. It hasn't been until she had been deployed to work with a squad of mostly female soldiers, that when the feelings started to kick in.

“Who are you?” said the pretty girl, her strong yet limber body in a bending attack position. 

“Names Lai-Ty, what are you doing in my cave?” She found it often sent people a bit off balance when you told them who you were, except this woman was too good for that. She held her stance and replied smoothly. “This is your cave, well at least that question is answered, now how about I put down my hands, your put away your blades and we have a chat.”

Normally Lai-Ty would have never even thought about putting away her blades, but this situation was different. This girl had her off balance already with looks but more importantly was her stance, she was definitely a veteran, and a damn good one at that. Her stance displayed her mastery of positioning and bender without needing a demonstration. She put her long knives back in their deaths, and the other woman returned to a resting position. 

“Ok how about you tell me your name” Lai-Ty probed. She was thinking this was either an officer of some kind or an elite trooper, maye every royal soldier. What she next completely blew Lai-Tys mind.

“My name is Azula and I am the former firelord and currently the most wanted person in the fire nation” she said casually as one might say they decided to repaint their wall a bit darker shade of red. Lai-Tys mind raced as she tried to figure out how she hadn't put it together on sight. It was the make-up, normal the princess had been covered in the stuff, it making her look sharper and more deadly. The woman she saw in front of her looked almost soft, the two looked barely matching. 

“Well ex firelord since we are going to talk first maybe try to kill each other later, I am an ex light killer and I would guess around the 4th most wanted person in the nation, if the nation knew I existed.” It was strange, Lat-Ty tended to keep her hand covered but something about Azula seemed almost caring, now she knew why all the make-up. 

“What is a light killer?’ Azula asked, “Based on the name it sounds like fun”

“I would have thought at least the royal family knew, but I guess some things really are for firelord ears only” Lai-Ty responded. She enjoyed the brief moment where it almost looked like Azula was considering pouting before regaining control. “The light killers were a fire nation assassin unit that was formed by Azulon in his waning years” she explained, “We were assassins that got a super long and difficult assignment and then went off the grid until it was done, no way for anyone to track us yet also no way for the rest of the army to send us info. It was kept highly secret so that no one could interfere or try to use us for themselves.”

“Interesting, I'm going to make the assumption that when the current firelord found out, he wasn't very happy” Azula said. 

“Not really, our last assignment had been completed during Sozin's comet, but since the war ended people noticed, we were given a choice to turn ourselves in or be brought in.” Lai-Ty responded

“You are being incredibly open with someone you just met, especially someone as dangerous and volatile as the broken princess” Azula pondered. 

“You are definitely correct, ex firelord, however most people aren't as attractive as you” La-Ty said. It had the desired reaction, Azula showed true emotion for the first time since they had started talking, her lips parted slightly in surprise, her eyes widening just a bit and her cheeks gaining just a tiny bit of red. 

She quickly got control of herself and took a seat on the cot, “I have decided not to kill you.” Azule stated “I haven't had a great history of people liking me without fear being involved in some way, so you might be able to make something of yourself within my perception.” 

Lai-Ty took that as permission to talk more and sit down. “Well as one of the fire nations top non bending assassins, I don't scare easily.” She said. She could sense the other woman was still holding something back, so she made an attempt to draw it out. “However even I was scared of you that would not stop me from trying to be friendly, an unknown assassin is a lonely job with lonely people so I try to make connections where possible.” 

That was what did it, the honest, non coerced, desire to be friends. Or hopefully something more. Azula seemed to slump into the other woman, gently shaking as thin tears began to fall from her face. Lai-Ty wrapped her in a protective hug, and she finally pieced together what Azula had been hiding. She was damaged, badly on the inside. She had never been able to trust anyone and those that she had given the barest scraps of trust to had betrayed her. She might be sane and composed but under that she was hurt, and Lai-Ty understood. 

The war had hit them both differently, Azula had thrown up a wall around herself so tight and constricting it had no choice but to break eventually. Lai-Ty on the other hand had become too open and trusting of anyone, her years with only fellow hardened light killers had left her so lonely she was desperate for anyone to hold on too. 

“Well since both of us are alone and on the run, why don't we stick together and see how that works out.” Lai-Ty suggested. Azula looked up and wiped the remaining tears from her face.

“I think that would be a good idea.” she said confidently, “Perhaps you can explain the whole calling me attractive thing at some point as well.”

It was now Lai-Tys turn to get a little red in the face, “yeah maybe at some point”.

Hahn hated the fire nation more than anything. They had taken everything from him, his position, his girl, and his face. When admiral Cho or whatever his name was had thrown him off of a boat he had escaped his face on the way down. The freezing water he had been thrown into had stopped him from dying but had also made sure the damage was permanent. All his friends had fled from him, with a network of ugly scars running down his face. He had even lost his left eye. After being healed he decided to leave not like he had much of a choice.

He hadn't left alone. When the avatar had made the fire nation pull away, the north had decided to continue protecting themselves instead of seeking vengeance. Hahn had found like minded individuals like himself and they had called themselves the ice hunters. However before they could take much vengeance the war was over and the fire nation were supposedly good guys again. Hahn didn't believe a single bit of that bison crap. However the end of the war had opened up new opportunities for him, bounty hunting. 

Fire nation had a lot of criminals that they were willing to pay handsomely for. Most they wanted alive, but that wasn't the ice hunters style. They only brought them in cold. If the job needed the target brought in alive Hahn simply declined. He would take his vengeance like this, gettin paid by them to kill them. 

“Boss, I found one that I think you will like,” said one of his men, pulling him out of his reminiscing. He stalked across the camp they had set up outside the fire capitol. The citizens did not like them much but they knew they had to put up with it, thanks to the new firelord. 

“What is it?” Hahn demanded.

“Firelords sister, warm or cold, biggest reward I have ever seen” he said already, beginning to get excited over it. “Even if we do bring her in cold”

Hahn looked at the wanted poster, a smile forming over his scared up lips, “Hunters, we have a mark” he yelled to his troops, “Time to ice a princess”.


	2. Breaking the Ice

The last week has been one of the best of Azula's life. Not that it was saying much as the rest of her life had either been a facade of happiness, hiding her dislike of pretty much everything, or a carefully controlled princess as to not upset her fathers reputation. This however had been one of the first times she had ever done something purely for her, and it had felt good.

She and Lai-Ty had left the little volcanic cave after staying in it for a couple days. “I didn't tell anyone about this place but some probably knows about it”, she had explained “and while they may not have sold me to the fire nation, there are definitely some other parties interested in my demise.”

So they had packed up and moved out. They had taken Lai-Tys small boat to the edge of the earth kingdom and ditched it there. They had then found a small town to lay low in. That is where they had been for the last couple days. During this time they grew a bit closer, yet they were still guarded. They had told each other their basic life stories, each omitting some of the nastier details.

Azula had just woken up when Lai-Ty came to her fully dressed and handed her a cup of tea. “And here I thought I was the early riser type” she said with a smirk. 

“Well clearly you weren't thinking straight as I have beaten you awake everyday since we met” Lai-Ty retorted, “now drink up, it tastes terrible but it will rejuvenate you.”

“Thanks, I assume this was part of assassin training” Azula questioned as she drank the tea. Lai-Ty had been correct, it tasted absolutely horrible, she was already feeling more awake and ready.

“Yeah, we were taught the easiest kill was on a sleeping target but it went both ways, so learning to sleep less and be ready for night ambushes was taught very quickly” Lai-Ty chuckled, “let me just say, waking up to a psychotic commander attempting to slit your throat doesn't make for a pleasant awakening.”

“I would bet as much” Azula said, “Now what is your master plan for today?” Up until this point she had been Lai-Ty took the lead as she at the very least seemed to have an idea of what direction to move on the daily, whereas Azula still had no idea what to do with the rest of her life.

“I was thinking we just spent the day together here” Lai-Ty responded, “We are definitely out of range of the fire nation, and probably still out of the range of most bounty hunters, so I could just get to know each other a bit more.”

“Oh? Well I suppose” Azula said a bit confused, “But what else do you want to know about me?”

“Well basically everything I have heard about is a power hungry, homicidal lunatic.” Lai-Ty said, “And after spending this week with you, I haven't seen any of that, or anything to match the picture in my head.”

“Describe the picture in your head and lets see what I can do with it” Azula replied

“Well I thought you would be bigger, meaner and potentially have fire coming from your mouth, Lai-Ty joked, and I guess I thought you would have some battle scars or something, but it seems that your brother handled that end.”

“Zuko is not the only one with scars” Azula said very seriously, all humor gone from her. She stood up and removed her shirt, revealing a mess of small burn and cut scars, all across her body. “While dad never personally gave me a blast of flame, these all came from him. Instructors ordered to attack me with full force, I was supposedly a prodigy, so I would win and if I didn't, it would teach me to win next time.”

Azula was surprised with herself, she had never been open about this with anyone. Even with her old “friends'' she had maintained the power by having no weakness and no flaws. But she was remembering all the time spent in private areas, being thrown around by masters while her father demanded she get up and do better.

She held out her hand and a small blue flame alighted on her palm. “This doesn't happen simply because I'm a prodigy.” She explained “My fire isn't a gift from dragons like my brothers, it is fueled by anger like most firebenders. But this, pure blue fire, it comes from malice, a complete hatred of almost everything. That is what my father gave me, pure hatred.”

She looked back at Lai-Ty and was completely shocked at what she saw on her face. It wasn't fear or shock or even disdain, it was concern. Lai-Ty was concerned for her, she was the first person to show that emotion towards Azula for a very long time. 

She found it felt good to have someone show her genuine, uncoerced concern. So she decided to lay the last bit of her out. “Then there was my mother” she said somberly.

“She tried to protect me, but she was always more concerned with little Zuzu, because was born a failure. She spent all her time and effort on coddling and defending him again father, which left all his time for me. The most she ever gave me was scolding, and only if I did something mean there precious little Zuzu. She gave up on me and condemned me to be a monster”.

She didn't realize she had started to cry until the first tear fell. But unlike last time she didn't feel exhausted and broken. This felt good, it was nice to tell someone these things. Lai-Ty had moved close to her and as her story came to its end, she wrapped Azula in a gentle hug.

“Azula, I am so sorry this happened to you, she said with determination in her voice, “I won't let anything like this happen to you again, I promise.”

“Why do you care so much about me?” Azula asked,”You have only known me for a week and I am the most wanted criminal in the fire nation.” 

Just as Lai-Ty was about to answer Azula's warrior sense kicked in, and working off pure instinct threw herself and Lai-Ty to the floor as a barrage of icicles shot through the space they had been. 

“Your telling me that not a single person has seen a deraged fire princess that shoots lighting and blue fire out of her fingertips.” Hahn demanded, “Really not a single person?”

It had been a rough couple of days for the ice hunters. They had been following a lead on the princess but had got sidetracked when a group of ex fire army thugs had tried to take them down. The Ice hunters had easily slaughted the inital attack group under a hail of icicles, and he and his elite nonbenders blade skills. But then when he had found out their last assignment had been the north, operation Moonfall to be specific he had to pursue and kill them all. It had been worth good coin for dumping all the bodys in the bounty collection office, but about half of his men had been injured. Since he didnt add women to the group, they would be far to distacting for the men and would need to constantly be saved from danger, they had no healers. 

He decided that he would leave the injured behind at the healers, removing the cost from their cut. That had cut his orginal force of forty men, thirty benders and ten non benders, reduced to around twenty. He and his other nine non benders were still fine and bloodthirsty, but they now only had ten benders for cover fire and back-up. As much as he resented the fact, he believed that the only way to succeed in this world was with benders. 

He was nearing the end of his patience with this whole thing and this was the last informant he was going to try. The informant had informed him the smae thing everyone else had, that Azula had simply disappeared. No, he was not going to accept this. He would find her and kill her, no matter what it took.

“Ok heres the deal” he said quietly, “since you have no information, I am not going to pay you. However If you point me in the direction of someone who does than I wont kill you on the spot”

The infornment in question was a rather plump fire nation citizen with decenty expensive looking clothes. He had probably owned some war based business that had let him get in on the info of the war and make a nice dollar as well. Now he was out of power and influence selling waht few secrets he could dig up to the less savory crowds.

“Look I know a guy” he said, his voice shaky with fear, “Ex assassin or something like that, lives in the woods, comes to town every couple days to pick up things. I get my info from him so it should be good.”

“Thank you, you have been most helpful” Hahn said with a smile. He then pulled out his knife and stabbed the man several times in the gut. “You have also just stated that I dont need you anymore and since I didnt like you, it makes me happy to relieve you of service.”

The assassin in the woods had payed off. He had told them of the cave and the departure to the earth outskirts, from that point it had been easy work of trekking the coastline using a combination of coins and blades to loosen lips and guts until they had found the spot. He then had ordered his men to set up quietly out side the broken down house and prepare an ice barrage. He knew it wasnt going to be the kill shot, but it would be a good introduction.

“Alright men, Lets ice them!”

Confessions of attration and potential love were hard enough without water tribe mercenaries trying to murder them in the middle of it. Lai-Ty didnt feel scared or worried when the ice came in, just annoyed. 

When she had first seen Azula she had simply believed her to be an attractive assassin or something. Many she would be a fun night and then they tried to kill each other, not that it would be the first time. But after spending the time to get to know Azula her feelings had grown into something more. It wasnt love, not yet anyway but she wanted to keep seeing Azula, keep journeying together, finding purpose. She wanted to be there to comfort her in her hard moments and see her smile. But first she had to deal with some ice flinging idiots first. 

She rolled from where Azula had brought them down to where her gear had fallen and grabbed her knives. This was not going to be a fight for her bow, it was going to be close and bloody. She quickly applied slowing toxin to her blades, the knid that didnt do much but worked really fast. 

“Now that we have made our presence known allow us to formally introduce ourselves” Drawled a male voice dripping with cockiness, “I am Hahn and these are my Ice Hunters, we are here to collect the bounty on you, and we will be killing you to do so.”

Lai-Ty peeked up through the busted wall and saw a line of slowly approaching water tribe warriors, by the style the weapons they held, they were north. They wore light armor colored dark blue with a few symbols. By the armor and stance she could tell they were good, not good enough to hide any skill, but still competent. 

They all wore masks except for the leader in the back. He was the one who probably needed it most, as his face was a mess of scaring. It looked like someone had held his face over an old sharping block. 

Behind him were the benders, all were equipped with multiple combat water skins and they had brought barrels to use for artillery. There stances also showed they knew what they doing.

So a unit of well trained north warriors led by cocky idiot with a messed up face. This should be somewhat fun.


	3. Hot and Cold

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hahn against Azula, and the fire ladies finish the conversation they started.

“You think a couple fireballs are going to be able to stop us” Hahn mocked, “Maybe you really did go crazy.”

“What an absolute idiot” Azula thought. Of course a couple quick shot fire strikes were not going to stop them, they weren't even designed to slow them. It was a test, and they had failed. The warriors advancing toward them all were using two handed weapons of one per hand, all offense no defense. They were stalking, slowing closer, relying entirely on the benders for cover. 

She had fired a couple at the benders to test them and to get them closer together. It had worked perfectly, they had connected to each other to more quickly generate water in the right direction. They were now in position to receive her new and deadly technique. 

“Be ready to move when those benders go down” Azula told Lai-Ty, “I will follow you right after”. Lai-Ty nodded and readied herself to move. “Ok now's the time to see if this is actually going to work or if we both are going to explode before those fools even get close” She thought. 

She moved quickly from her crouching position to a standing one behind one of the walls, barely dodging the hail of ice that was launched as soon as she moved. She then began to perform the motions to charge a lightning blast. However she didn't stop when she normally would have, instead she kept going and building the current stronger and more volatile. Then she leaned out and launched it at the water benders. Where the new technique came in was two fold. First she fired from both hands in two bolts instead of one, second when the bolt was launched she split her fingers and the bolts split with them into several chaotic arcs.

Normally lightning was supposed to be precise and deadly, however this was all over the place. This technique involved splitting the arcs so that you covered a much larger area with a greater pulse. Now even the non benders that got hit in the spread would definitely survive and even be able to remain conscious. So it would seem a decent stun tactic but nothing more, unless the targets were covered in something conductive.

The arc laced through the water the benders were holding and eletricted all of them. It was quite a fantastic display. When the charge ran out all the benders were on the ground, and she could tell even from her position that they weren't breathing. “Go” she commanded Lai-Ty, before launching covering fire.

As soon as she heard the word Lai-Ty jumped out of the house and rushed straight for the enemy fighters, who were still reeling from the deaths of their comrades. Good, it would make this all the easier. 

The first warrior went down before he even noticed her. She had quickly sprinted to him and stabbed him in the chest. If he wasn't dead on the first hit he would be in a few seconds. The next guy did see her coming and readed himself. He took a swig with his two handed water trine blade. However he put all his power into the swing, so when she easily dodged out of the way he lost his balance. Before he could regain it she had already slashed his throat and moved on.

She looked over in time as Azula landed a direct hit with a blast of fire on another warrior, right in the face. He didn't even have time to scream before he died. Wow, she thought, attractive and fully capable, she is the whole package.

One of the warriors made the mistake of thinking she was fully distracted by Azula and tried to run behind her and hit her with a double cross slash from his blades. She spun on her heels and drove one of her knives through his head, deep enough to kill him instantly but not to get it stuck. Both of his weapons fell from his hands as his body fell in a limp pile at her feet. 

She and Azula quickly dispatched the remaining warriors, none of them giving either woman much trouble. After that all that was left was Hahn. He looked around, surprised, giving way to rage on face.

“Did you really think that was going to be even close to what you needed to take us on”, Azula mocked, “If this is the best the northern water tribe can do, it proves how completely incompetent Zhao was.”

“Don't say that name”, Hahn growled

“Aw is he the one that messed up your face,” Azula smirked, “Is it because you hate him or because you hate yourself for losing to the weakest, most useless leader in the fire nation”.

“Shut up and die you worthless piece of ash maker garbage”, Hahn screamed and rushed Azula, blade raised, ready to cut her down in sweep. Lai-Ty watched and thought about the hundreds of ways that he could lose. In fact the only way she thought he would actually be able to win is she had a heart attack in the next few seconds. Unfortunately for him, she did not. 

She easily dodged his clumsy and over aggressive swings while performing the motions to charge up a blast of lightning. Lai-Ty found this an interesting strategy since he was so close but decided to see what would happen. When she was charged she dodged one final swing before jamming her fingers into her chest and releasing the energy. 

He was standing in a puddle of water when this happened, so this wasn't going to just easily disperse into the ground. She however while charging had projected a low waze of heat, drying the ground around her. The lightning filled his body and conducted with the water on the ground. When the spark disapted all of his exposed skin was covered in new scarring wounds, his face stuck in a final moment of surprise as he died. 

“Well that was a bit disappointing, I was hoping he would put up a bit more of a fight” Azula sighed, “Guess we will just clean up and leave.” She then proceeded to blast each body with fire, enough so that even the wet ones caught and held a steady burn. 

“Did you have any intention to move those into a stack or pile?” Lai-Ty asked

“They aren't worth the effort,” Azula replied. There was no anger or malice in her tone. She stated it so matter of factly you might think she was competing on how cloudy it was. 

Choosing to move on Lai-Ty said “They have to have gotten here somehow and since we didn't see how, they must have come from the coast”

Azula quickly caught on to what she was saying, “meaning they must have a boat we can take, considering they definitely trashed or at the very least identified yours.”

“Precisely” Lai-Ty responded, “I hope the one they brought is fast” 

They went back to the ruined house, grabbed their supplies, and then headed down to the shore. They were pleasantly surprised to find that while there was a larger modified northern water tribe ship floating off the coast, they had used small boats to come ashore. The boats they had used were clearing based off the small one man speed boats the fire nation had employed to protect the gates of Azulon, yet they had been modified. 

The model used by the ride nation could fit a max of two people and was quite fast but very short range in terms of fuel capacity. These models had been built with slower yet sturdier engines and significantly larger fuel tanks. They weren't going to cross the world in these but they would definitely be able to get pretty far. The first one they checked had an almost full tank. 

“Guess they thought they were going to ride back to the fire capitol to present our bodys after this job” Lai-Ty commented. 

“Glad to see we were at least important enough to make a resupply run before attacking us” Azula siad.

They loaded up their gear and took off. “Where to?” asked Lai-Ty, who was driving. 

“I think another remote coastal settlement would be good, less chance of anyone finding or recognizing us, yet also easy to leave quickly if they do.” Azula suggested

“I know just the place,” Lai-Ty said. She adjusted their course and pushed it up to speed.

They arrived around an hour later. The town was tiny, only around twenty buildings total. They parked their craft and looked for a place to stay. There were about five empty buildings that could serve as houses, nobody owned them and nobody said they would challenge them if they chose to stay in one. 

“Nobody cares” someone had told them, “If you look dangerous enough everyone will leave you alone. This town isn't on the map and is barely recognized by the local governor. It exists as a place for people to hide in for a bit, no one has ever stayed longer than three years. The only exception is the family that owns the food store. That's pretty much the economy around here, staying anywhere is free, you just have to pay for food.”

Once they had settled in a derelict building, Lai-Ty worked up the confidence to finish the conversation they had started before ice chumps or whatever they were called had interrupted. 

“So remember what we were talking about before the fools tried to kill us” she started. But before she could continue Azula said “Look I know that you are into me for some reason and it's not just my looks, but I don't know about a relationship.”

Azula then kept going, “I have never had a real relationship with anyone. My friends were there because I emotionally manipulated them, I kissed a guy once but then scared him off. The point is I have never maintained a real anything with anyone that wasn't built on fear. I can't tell how you will be any different.”

Lai-Ty gulped, she had definitely not expected Azula to lay everything out like that. However she had started this so was going to be damn sure she finished it. “I am not going to lie and say that I am not afraid of you. However I can easily get past the fear because I have had more fun with you over the last week than at any other point in my life. You are broken and hurt inside, so am I, but I want to be there for you and help you. You are one of the most interesting, most enjoyable and most attractive people I have ever met. It's too early to say love but I like you, a lot, and I want to get closer to you than just friends.”

Lai-Ty was unsure of how to continue before Azula surged forward and kissed her. She had been trained to quickly adapt and counter any movement made by anyone and she made use of that training by leaning into the kiss. After a little while Azula pulled back and said,”Alright we will give this a try.”

Lai-Ty was still reeling from what had just happened and ws desperately trying to compose herself but was unable to do anything but smile and nod vigorously. 

“There was only even one other person who I remember laying out any sort of affection for me before” Azula said, “there was even a time when I thought that the two of us could have been something but that time has passed. Now its you and me against the world.”

Lai-Ty could now be sure this wasnt a dream or a trick and she giddy with excitement, then she heard a knock on the door. She and Azula went dead quiet, nodded at each other, and stalked slowly toward the door. The plan was simple Lai-Ty would open the door and use it for cover while Azula blaste the potential attacker. 

They made it to the door, nodded at each other once more. Lai-Ty smiled, this was the first potantail killer that she might dispatch with her new girlfriend. She opened the door and was prepared to attack but was aught off guard by what she saw. 

The man standing outside the door was wearing a fire uniform that neither of the recongized and held his hands up in a sign of surrender. The look on his face was of desperation. 

“Princess Azula, Light killer Lai-Ty, my name is Kaiga and I need your help.”


	4. Blood and fire

Kaiga looked to be in his early thirties. He had a more oval shaped head, with a strong jawline and a smaller forehead. He was clean shaven and had short black hair. He was of decent height and well built, not bulky like earth benders but a bit more well muscled than your average fire soldier. The uniform he wore was mostly black with dull red fire nation symbols on front and back. It appeared to be designed to defend against heat, almost as if it was meant for fighting fire benders as opposed to fighting with them. 

“Can I come in?” he asked, “and if not could I at least lower my hands.”

“Yes to both” responded Azula, “but keep in mind that we may still kill you.”

“That is fine, as long as you listen to what I have to say,” he replied. From the look on his face and from his tone, they could tell he was completely serious. 

“If you are going to preach to me about how I should turn myself in to help sustain the new peace in the world, then you should leave now” Azula said, “I am not interested in Zuzu's lofty dreams or this world's precious delusion of peace.”

“Actually I haven't seen the new fire lord yet, and I had no intention of talking to him” Kaiga said, “I came to you because there are some really bad people who I need your help killing. If the rest of the world found out about these people, then the goal of peace is as good as dead.”

“Ok well that's a good start, but let me ask you this” Azula questioned, “Why should I care?”

“You are currently the fire nation's most wanted criminal, with one of the largest bounties ever seen.” Kaiga answered, “However most bounty hunters aren't going after you for a couple reasons. Firstly you are difficult to find, how I found is another matter entirely but let's just say it wasn't easy. Number two, you are very difficult to kill. Everyone knows who you are and what you are capable of. It has fully circulated that you have regained your sanity and your display against the Ice Hunters shows you are at full capacity.”

“That's my girl” Lai-Ty said as she fell around Azula from behind. They had moved from the doorway and were all sitting on the floor. Kaiga had his knees on the ground and his back straight in a very formal posture. Azula sat more loosely not really caring about formality when in the presence of someone she still hasn't made up her mind around killing. Lai-Ty had come from behind Azula and put her arms around her shoulders in a hug of sorts. She had mostly expected Azula to shrug her off, but was pleasantly surprised when she actually leaded back into her. 

“Yet if these people do what they are planning” Kaiga continued, “The smartest move for the firelord will be to blame you. Then you will receive a double bounty from the earth king, and you can forget ever being able to stop running. It will be an amount of money that every hunter, thug, warrior and fool with a weapon will be after you. You would have to kill over a quarter of the earth kingdom and an even greater amount of the fire nation. But before it could even come to that the firelord and the Avatar would personally track you down and they would not be in the mood for games. Your options would be immediate surrender and life in maximum security prison, most likely poisoned or starved by guards at some point, or death right there.”

“Alright you have made your point,'' said Azula, “now explain these “bad people” you want me to kill.”

“You may not recognize my uniform but that is for good reason” Kaiga replied “I was second in command of a particularly nasty unit, allow to tell you the brief yet extremely violent history of the Bloodflame company”

In any society that exists long enough you will eventually start to notice that not everyone is born mentally the same. Some people are born without certain things. This will not manifest itself until around the age of eleven at the earliest, however it has been there all along. They display antisocial behavior, lack of empathy and destructive nature toward everything. These are known as psychopaths. 

Now in this age of conflict the fire nation needed every viable soldier it could find. While they were never on the back foot, the bold and dangerous offenses that brought them consistant victory needed consistent troops to carry them out. So they weren't going to turn down any volunteers. Minimal conscriptions was one of the most important ways the fire nation kept the citizenry happy. That where the psychopaths came in.

At training and combat exercises they were quickly discovered as the ones who didn't hold back and badly injured most opponents. Normally they would have been kicked out and most likely executed however the fire nation did not want to throw away such eager and powerful soldiers. However they presented as much danger to the unit they were stuck with as to the enemy if their blood lust could not be satiated. 

An officer had an idea that he proposed the higher ups in the military. Why not simply put all these troops together and deploy them in battlefields outside the main force? If they caused too much trouble they were far enough out to simply abandon and if their blood lust was too great they would just destroy each other. This man was promoted to commander and placed in charge of this unit, and with that Bloodflame was born. 

They were deployed into the earth kingdom with the rest of the troops but sent ahead to attack more fortified yet less direct targets. They were effective yet horrifying, they left nothing but smoking ruins and charred corpses everywhere they went. They killed everyone they could find and occasionally went looking for others to kill. It got to the point where they were sent as far as the main army as possible as even hardened fire soldiers felt sick looking at their work. 

After a while even this was not enough to keep the fire nation generals from attempting to disband the unit and return and leave them to die in the earth kingdom territory. That when the commander had another idea, something to convince the higher ups that the unit was under control. The position of chief communicator was created, basically the unit's babysitter. A rigid rule following officials with a softer heart that would be able to stop at least a few of the atrocities. 

The communicator had to send regularly scheduled reports using specially bred hawks that were faster than normal. If the message didn't come for any reason, the unit would immediately be labeled traitors and given a kill on sight order. The messages also were written in a code only the communicator knew so that it could not faked. This unit worked smoothly until the end of the war.

“Im going to assume that you were the communicator” Azula asked. She was legitimately curious, she had never heard of Bloodflame. Had she not been royalty she would have most likely ended up as one of them.

“Yes and I did all I could to limit the destruction” Kaiga, “However there was only so much I could do. I have seen far to much brutal and senseless death by their hands for a thousand life times”.

“Nice story, very interesting, but how does this involve us” Lai-Ty questioned, “Or more importantly what happened to this unit because clearly something has gone wrong or you wouldnt have tracked us down.”


End file.
